Stable isotope methodology to determine amino acid requirements in cats

Amino acids are organic compounds that serve not only as building blocks of proteins, but also as important components in the production of a wide range of metabolites and in the regulation of key metabolic pathways. Ten proteogenic amino acids are considered indispensable for the domestic cat, meaning that they cannot be synthesised in sufficient amounts to support specific biological functions, thus necessitating their inclusion in the diet. Due to the importance of amino acids in metabolism, having accurate estimates of indispensable amino acid requirements is important to provide optimal nutrition for cats.

However, the majority of indispensable amino acids have not been empirically determined in adult cats, and the techniques employed in past studies are insensitive in mature animals, resulting in an underestimation of the true requirement. The indicator amino acid oxidation technique is a modern and sensitive method that has been successfully applied in many species to empirically determine amino acid requirements. This technique has recently been validated in adult cats and applied to determine the minimum methionine and minimum phenylalanine requirements, both of which were found to be greater than the current recommendations proposed by regulatory agencies.

This webinar will detail the importance of amino acids for cats, the current knowledge of amino acid requirements in this species, and how modern isotope techniques can be applied to continue expanding our knowledge of the amino acid requirements of the domestic cat.

What will I gain from this webinar?

• An understanding of the importance of amino acids in cat nutrition and our current knowledge on amino acid requirements in this species.
• Be able to critically discuss how amino acid requirements and recommendations are currently proposed for cats and how their estimations are derived.
• Understand the feeding and isotope dilution protocol for carbon oxidation studies in the domestic cat that can be used to empirically determine amino acid requirements.

Endorsement No EN175.83